The claimed invention relates to the field of articles or products designed to support individually one or more containers in an up-right position, and more particularly to carrying or packaging trays which are molded to substantially finished form with horizontal and sloping but no substantially vertical wall portions to permit like empty trays to be nested one within another in a compact and convenient stack of such trays for shipment and storage prior to use.
A non-exclusive example of such a tray product is the one-use disposable carry trays molded of fibrous pulp or foamed plastic material designed to hold one or more beverage cups, and optionally additional food products, as used in the carry-out fast food and beverage trade. Another example is the packing trays designed to hold a plurality of containers such as jars, bottles or the like, and protect them against mutual contact and breakage, in shipping cases or cartons.
Prior to the present invention, a wide variety of carry-out trays have been proposed for the food service business, many of which include an arrangement of one sort or another for receiving a beverage cup and minimizing the possibility that it will tip and spill. One commercially successful cup holder for stackable carry trays of this general type is disclosed in Crabtree U.S. Pat. No. 3,915,371 (Oct. 1975), the same container-cradling aperture concept also being disclosed in Theobald U.S. Pat. No. 3,587,915 (June 1971). The cup holder employing container-cradling apertures of the aforesaid Crabtree patent has been recognized as a significant advance in the art of cup holders for molded carry trays, but at least two disadvantages have become apparent as a result of commercial use of this type of holder.
First, the cup holding recess of the type disclosed in the aforesaid Crabtree patent is designed primarily for only one size of cup-shaped container. It functions extremely well for a container of the size for which it is designed, but it is less effective in preventing against tipping those containers which are narrower than the size for which it is designed. The provision of small bend-down or break-away tabs facilitates the use of the Crabtree cup holder with the narrower size containers, but this is only a functional compromise at best.
Second, the cup holding recess of the type disclosed in the aforesaid Crabtree patent requires two or more relatively large container-cradling apertures in each cup holder, which are an essential functional feature but which detract from the visual aesthetic appearance of the tray. Market reaction suggests that a carry tray which does not appear to have gaping holes in the cup holder would meet with significantly increased consumer acceptance.
Thus, the problem heretofore unsolved in the prior art is an inexpensive stackable tray including at least one socket for holding a cup-shaped container within a predetermined range of sizes of such containers, and which additionally avoids the appearance of large apertures or holes in the tray.